VTC Home Page / School of Medicine

The M.D. Program

Four-year program leading to the M.D. degree

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine currently offers a four-year educational program leading to the M.D. degree. The program provides the necessary education to ensure a solid foundation in the basic and clinical sciences, development of clinical skills, and provides clinical experiences in all of the major clinical disciplines. Research and interprofessionalism are key curricular components and are interwoven throughout the program.

Innovative learning format

VTC uses a small-group, patient-centered case approach to structure the learning of the basic and clinical sciences critical to the understanding of medicine. We have moved away from the traditional lecture format and have designed the program to include more discussion, critical thinking, hands-on laboratories and clinical skills sessions, and simulation.

• The class size is small, 42 students. At full enrollment the four-year school will have 168 students
• The small class size will allow for ample individualized attention and participation by each student which will in turn foster an intense and highly rich educational experience
• Our research program is fully integrated throughout four years of study and requires the student to produce a hypothesis-driven research project of publishable caliber as a requirement of graduation
• Our interprofessionalism program is designed to equip aspiring physicians with teamwork, communication, and conflict resolution skills in addition to exploring concepts such as the roles of the health professions, public health, acute and chronic disease management, systems change, and patient safety. Students will contribute, together with students from other health professions, to a “service learning project” in the community as part of the interprofessionalism curricular program.

Developing physician thought leaders

The Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine physician will be a thought leader and will thrive in their chosen field whether it is community or academic medicine, research, health policy, or health information technology. Our rigorous admissions process selects students with the resilience to excel in a challenging environment. 

Specific attributes that we look for are:

• Leadership, scholarship, and motivation for a career in medicine
• A commitment to serving the needs of others
• Accomplishments that reveal originality and a capacity for independent, critical thinking
• A great affinity to a broad educational and personal experience that includes the humanities, social science and social services. 

Admissions to VTC will also require:

• Altruism
• Commitment to excellence
• Honesty and integrity
• Respect for others
• Empathy and compassion
• Professional responsibility
• Social responsibility